Much like Chedoke Golf Club, Remington Parkview is a 2-course facility, with only the longer of its courses playing over 6,000 yards. Known as the Upper Course, it extends up to 6,185 yards. Unlike Chedoke, the Upper Course at Remington Parkview plays over flat terrain. Half of the holes follow a hydro corridor, which doesn't exactly add to the ambiance. I never played the course before, but was desperate to find something at the last minute, so off I went to give it a try.
The story of the day was horrible driving. During my last round at Silver Brooke, horrible drives came in spurts. This time, they persisted for almost the entire round. On hole 1, I pulled my drive to an adjacent fairway. A good 5-wood then got me near the proper green and I scraped out a bogey. On hole 2, I actually drove the ball straight down the fairway, setting up a par. It would be an outlier for the day. On hole 3, I hit a weak drive off the heel of the club, sending the ball into some bushes left of the fairway. After a penalty and drop, I hit a 4-iron fat and then 3-putt en route to a triple-bogey.
The next four holes produced bogey, bogey, par, and bogey. The first of these was a 197-yard par-3, so I was reasonably satisfied with the result. The next was a par-5 that began with another drive attempt off the heel of the club. It was absolutely horrible! Another decent 5-wood helped me recover for the bogey. Hole 6 is a short par-4, so I used an iron off the tee. It was a good call, as I found the fairway and finished with par. Hole 7 is another par-3, so the driver didn't come into play.
The next opportunity for the driver came on hole 8, a dogleg par-4. This drive attempt was just as ugly as those on holes 3 and 5. Unfortunately, this one dove into some long grass and I was forced to take a penalty. It was the first of two penalties on the hole, as a pulled approach shot hit some tall trees and I was unable to find my ball. Quadruple-bogey was fully deserved. I botched another drive attempt on hole 9, failing to get the ball airborne and landing in a penalty area just ahead of the teeing ground. That hole finished with a double-bogey and my score at the turn was 48.
Some relief came over the next four holes, as I finished par, par, bogey, and bogey. Holes 10 and 11 are short par-4 holes, measuring just 277 and 295 yards, respectively. I hit a great 4-iron off the tee on hole 10, and one that was good enough on hole 11. While my approach shot on the former found the green, my approach on the latter was a tad short. Whether coming after a conventional 2-putt, or after an up-and-down, I'll take pars any day! Hole 12 was a par-3, while hole 13 was another short par-4, measuring 302 yards. I decided to go back to driver, and this time I hit a good one. A 50-yard pitch shot rolled off the left side of the green, or this would have been another par.
Hole 15 is a 357-yard par-4, but I went back to 4-iron off the tee, as OB looms on the left side and there is a bit of a chute to emerge from the teeing ground. It was a good call, as I hit the fairway and eventually tallied another par. The final three holes on the course are a par-5, followed by two lengthy par-4 holes. These are all driving holes, so I was a little worried. As it turned out, I only hit the fairway on hole 16, but my other drives were plenty deep and didn't miss by much, so I ended the day with three consecutive bogeys. 44 on the back nine was only good enough for a final score of 92 overall.
After the fact, I realized what was wrong with my driving. I had little or no rotation of my shoulders and hips on the backswing. I was taking the club back with arms only. I then started the downswing by rotating the hips and shoulders. This is what you want when you've taken a proper backswing, but in my case, it just created a massive out-to-in swing path. It's near impossible to strike the ball well when you do that. I need to get some rotation back into my backswing, to enable that uncoiling motion to bring me back to square.
Score: 92
Putts: 31
Fairways: 4
Greens: 2
Penalties: 4
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